The Conversation

There’s far more to the fair go than just economics

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has often argued that inequality in Australia is the worst it has been in 75 years.

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‘Empowerment’ feminism is not working – we need a far more radical approach to gender equality

International Women’s Day has come and gone, leaving the annual short burst attention to “women’s issues” in its wake. So now is a good time to look at what emerged from it, and whether gender equity has stalled.

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The state of Australia: welfare and inequality

In the lead-up to the budget, the story of crisis has been hammered home, but there’s more to a country than its structural deficit. So how is Australia doing overall? In this special series, ten writers to take a broader look at the State of Australia; our health, wealth, education, culture, environment, well-being and international standing.

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Creeping spread of income management must be challenged

One of the bizarre bipartisan policy overlaps between the Coalition and Labor is in the area of income support known as welfare payments. Labor has been seen as the party that cared about the poor and disadvantaged, but the former ALP government adopted and extended a range of the Howard government’s paternalistic and punitive measures.

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Failed market assumptions are undermining care for our children

Can the Productivity Commission review commissioned by the Abbott government recognise the possible failure of the market-model funding of many early childhood services?

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An 800,000-plus jobs gap between ‘welfare to work’ and reality

The major missing factor in debates on cutting welfare spending – as has been flagged by social services minister Kevin Andrews – is the limited and falling demand for labour. Labour market figures give the lie to the need to target working-age payment recipients as the issue.

The problem is not supply-side inadequacies but the demand for labour: there are far too few jobs on offer.

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Income management: more evidence-free policymaking?

For a brief moment, it looked as though the Coalition would be better than the ALP on welfare policy. It appeared that the new government would listen to evidence for policy changes in its newly retitled Social Services portfolio.

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Closing the Gap: we know what works, so why don’t we do it?

The disappointing data that regularly appears in Closing the Gap reports should raise serious questions about policy development and funding processes.

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Prejudiced policymaking underlies Labor’s cuts to single parent payments

There’s no doubt that last week’s stoush between Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott over sexism and misogyny was extraordinary.

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Income management: more evidence-free policymaking?

It seems the Coalition will expand the compulsory income management scheme, which has little evidence backing up its worth.

For a brief moment, it looked as though the Coalition would be better than the ALP on welfare policy. It appeared that the new government would listen to evidence for policy changes in its newly retitled Social Services portfolio.

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